SOCHI, Russia -- One returning Olympic medalist soared. The other dropped like a rock through the standings. One young Russian crumbled under the pressure. Another bubbled to the surface with sky-high scores.

And the three skaters from the United States were as solid as they ever would have hoped to have been, finishing fourth, sixth and seventh in the women's short program Wednesday night at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Respectively, that's Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds on your scorecard.

It was the revenge of the women – kind of -- in women's figure skating. The expected battle between reigning 23-year-old Olympic gold medalist Yuna Kim and 15-year-old Russian sensation Julia Lipnitskaia never materialized when Lipnitskaia fell to the ice on her triple flip.

But another Russian, 17-year-old Adelina Sotnikova, filled her teammate's place nicely, receiving some very generous scores to nestle into second place behind Kim, 74.92 points to 74.64. Right behind them was the graceful 27-year-old from Italy, Carolina Kostner, who received 74.12 points. How in the world Sotnikova ended up ahead of Kostner, whose poise and lyricism is light years ahead of the Russian's, is anyone's guess.

Kim, trying to become only the third woman to win more than one Olympic figure skating gold medal, looked poised and confident throughout, but her program component scores were not the love letters from the judges they were four years ago, signaling the judges want a battle for the Olympic gold this time around.

But the reigning Olympic silver medalist, Mao Asada, is not going to be around for it. She fell on her triple axel and failed to complete a required combination jump, and found herself in 16th place.

While all this international intrigue was playing out at the top of the leaderboard, the Americans were more than holding than own a few rungs below, led by Gold, the 18-year-old U.S. national champion, who scored 68.63. The short program allows just four jumps, two of which must be in combination. On two of hers, Gold was tilted significantly in the air. Most skaters would fall. She somehow fought for the landings on both. It was a sign of her nerves.

"My legs felt like jelly," Gold said.

But it was the story of the night that she held on for dear life, leading a significant American charge for a possible medal Thursday.

"I've come too far not to land this stupid double axel," she said she told herself. "I'm going to land it with a smile on my face.''

And so she did, more than some could say on a crazy night in the slippery sport of figure skating.